Planned or not, it's already happeningYou can see their feedback in the quality of your relationship, the communication between you, and your shared sense of purpose.

As a teacher you probably give your students feedback all the time. Not just when you return their test papers with a grade, but every time you get into conversation with them. The tone of your voice and your body language speak loudly, much louder than your words. You probably already know that.

And the students give you plenty of feedback in the tone of their voices and their body language. You probably already know that too.

The challenge is to get some clarity and constructive changes from their feedback.

So I'm suggesting that you, as teacher, ask your students for feedback in a more concrete and planned way than simply observing the general tone of voice and body language. Based on the information you receive you will be able to influence the quality of your relationship, the communication between you, and your shared sense of purpose.

So what's coming up in your mind right now about asking students for feedback? If your relationship with the class so far has been less than wonderful, some students might use feedback as an opportunity for revenge. You might learn some inconvenient truths about your teaching. You might risk having your self-confidence shattered by certain remarks. So let's see what you can do to minimise the potential damage so that you can get to the useful information that can guide you in developing your relationship with your students.

First of all, the feedback can be anonymous.

Second, the feedback can focus on one lesson, or part of a lesson.

Then, depending on your current relationship, interpret the feedback with the knowledge that there might be some revenge going on. Take a pinch of salt with the feedback.

I feel confident that teachers can design feedback forms, so I will give just a few examples here.

Anonymous FeedbackUse one sheet for the whole class. Pass it round the room, or pin it to the door. Good for a first experience of giving feedback.

What did you think of today's lesson?

PoorOKGoodGreat

Detailed FeedbackUse one sheet for each student.Good for allowing more detailed commentsWhat did you think of today's lesson?

Explain what you want the students to give you feedback on, for example:ContentsHow relevant was it for this course?

After five years of research, asking teachers what works really well in their classrooms, and relating what they told me to the Core Skills that are required of a Coach, I notice that there are at least a dozen distinct, interconnected coaching skills that teachers use in the classroom.

How might a coach approach talking about rubrics in a classroom? What's a rubric? Rubrics are a means of sharing expectations, providing focused feedback on work in progress, and measuring results.

I have used rubrics as a teacher AND as a coach for a wide range of purposes. They are useful, can be time-consuming and can be heavy to employ. Yet, there's deeper benefits to them than simply grading results.Look at Rubistar for examples and tools for creating school subject rubrics. Here is an example from the Rubistar website.

Participation and ProfessionalismLet us suppose that a school teacher has designed a rubric regarding how students work in class.

She has identified a number of key factors, and brilliantly named them:

Politeness

Promptness

Professionalism

Preparedness

Problem-Solving

Here's what a coach-like approach might sound like.

The teacher writes the heading and the 5 key factors on the board

and says "This is part of what we shall focus on in November (pause)."

"What's included in 'Politeness'?".

"What might teachers, parents, (employers,) and other students include in the meaning of the key factor 'Politeness'?". "What do you include in the meaning of the key factor 'Politeness'?"

The teacher gathers the ideas from the students on the whiteboard.

"What might your, and some different people's reasons be for including 'Politeness' in a course such as this one?". "What might yours be?"

"What could be some of the short-term and long term benefits to you, and to others from getting a high score on the key factor 'Politeness'?", "What benefits can you think of?"

The teacher then splits the class into 5 groups (using what she knows about their general personalities, and their current eagerness to respond to the previous questions)

"Group A will work with 'Politeness', Group B will work with 'Promptness' etc"

The resulting rubricsAfter the set period of time the students then represent their groups and share what they have discussed.

They answer:

what's included in the key factor

why it is included

what the benefits are

These results are written large on paper and pinned near the door to the room so that it can be seen by the students as they come in, and leave.

My own growth as a rubric-writerInitially I borrowed rubrics from previous courses, and the ones on websites like Rubistar. Later, I started writing my own rubrics. Then I realised that the best thing to do is to educate the students in writing their own rubrics. Sometimes laziness is a virtue.I have found that, with a little prompting, students often come up with almost the same rubric descriptions that I have previously chosen. In some cases they have better descriptions, and of course I use their self-generated rubrics.

Here are three levels of increasing coaching intensity through which you progressively unfold your coaching skills in the classroom.

At the first levelyou will use the course goals and a set of coaching questions that step-by-step take the whole class though what they need to change in order to succeed.

At the second level you will guide the whole classin choosing a shared area to work on, set their own goals; and then use selected coaching cards within the well-known GROW coaching framework to drive the process forwards.

At the third level you will invite a student to volunteer to be silently coached, on their choice of topic, in front of a silent and respectful class. Your questions will come from you and your choice of coaching cards.